Quinoa is an ancient grain from the Andean region of South American, including Peru. While my husband and I were in Peru last month we actually didn’t eat any quinoa – our guide for the Choquequirao trek said that most of the quinoa is exported out of the country and what remains is expensive. While at home in Colorado we eat a lot of quinoa, mainly in salads because it’s not so great on its own. This is a quick and easy salad, perfect for those warm nights.

Serves 4-6

time: roughly 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked per package directions

cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced in bite-size pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced in bite-size pieces

green onion, sliced thinly

cucumber, peeled and sliced in bite-size pieces

kalamata olives, sliced in half

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

black pepper

kosher salt

feta cheese

pine nuts

Directions:

1) Cook the quinoa according to the package instructions – remove from heat and let cool.

2) After washing the vegetables cut them and set aside on the cutting board. Slice the kalamata olives in half.

Millet is a grass, it has a sort-of corn taste. I found that it required a tad bit more water than stated in the cooking directions, which I account for here. 1 cup dry, raw millet yields about 3 ½ cups cooked millet.

Ingredients:

1 cup dry millet

2 1/4 cups water

salt

pepper

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

can black beans, drained and rinsed

avacado

tomato

bell pepper

feta or goat cheese

Directions:

1) Boil the water, add a pinch of salt & millet – cover and cook on low for about 20 minutes without opening the lid.

2) When the millet is cooked it will be soft; remove the cooked millet from the stove, leave covered and let stand for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take the lid off and let cool completely.

3) While the millet is cooking, drain/rinse the black beans and chop the avocado, tomato and bell pepper.

It has been raining all week here in Northern Colorado, but the weather is supposed to make a change for the better – just in time for the holiday weekend! The nights and mornings are much more crisp, fall is totally in the air! I love fall but am not really looking forward to the snow and the lack of summer produce like the wonderful tomatoes and basil used in this salad. (the bowl & spoon are from Greece, how cool is that! My husband’s parents brought it back for us several years ago. Greece is on my list of places to visit…hopefully soon!)

This salad can either be layered in rows – tomato, cheese, basil – or mixed up like it is here.

serves 4

time: quick, about 5 minutes unless you cut really slowly

Ingredients:

1 tomato (or half & half of red & orange, or whatever colors – you can also use cherry tomatoes)

handful of basil, torn up

buffalo mozzarella (the kind in water, though regular mozzarella will work too but it’s not as good)

balsamic vinegar

olive oil

pepper

Lawry’s season salt

Directions:

1) Cut the tomatoes up into bite sized pieces, tear the basil up, cut the buffalo mozzarella into bite sized pieces (if you are doing the layering method slice the tomato & mozzarella into circles) and place is a shallow bowl.

2) Stir up the balsamic vinegar & olive oil, about 3 teaspoons of olive oil and 1-2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle in the pepper & Lawry’s season salt to taste. Pour the vinaigrette onto the tomatoes, basil and cheese – gently mix in the vinaigrette.

These rice bowls were really tasty – black rice has an amazing taste, it’s really similar to a wild rice. Be sure to marinade the chicken overnight for an extra yummy taste.

serves 4

marinade the chicken at least 4 hours, or overnight

Ingredients:

for the marinade – marinade the chicken at least 4 hours, or overnight

2 1/2 boneless & skinless chicken breasts

1 1/2 cups orange juice

3/4 cups balsamic vinegar

1/4 cups honey

1/2 canned chiles in adobo sauce, chopped

1/2 teaspoon cumin

a pinch of salt and pepper

black rice

2 cups dry black rice

3 cups water or chicken broth

pinch of salt

cook on the stove or in a rice cooker (this is my preferred method)

for the veggies

1 ripe avocado, sliced

handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced

cilantro, diced

green onions, sliced

handful of cashews

handful of dried cranberries

handful of crumbled feta cheese – we used Bulgarian feta which is really creamy

Directions:

1.Cook the rice per the instructions on the package.

2. Remove the chicken from the marinade, pouring the marinade into a pan and heating on medium-low heat and placing the chicken into a medium-high skillet coated with peanut oil. Cook the chicken until no longer pink.

3. In the meantime slice all of the veggies.

4. Once the chicken is cooked and the sauce has come to a rapid boil scoop out the rice, sprinkle the veggies, cranberries, cashews, and feta on top and spoon the sauce over the rice and veggies.

I have so many posts that I need to catch up on, it’s ridiculous. I made this dish awhile ago, and as always it was pretty darn tasty. And I always I made some substitutions from the original recipe and made it my own.

prep time: 25 minutes

cooking time: 75 minutes

Ingredients:

chicken thighs (enough to serve those who are eating, up to 6 pieces otherwise add more of the other ingredients)

5. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a cast iron pan on medium heat; cook chicken with skin side down and brown for about 10 minutes. Flip to cook the other side and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

6. Pour in the Marsala wine and turn up the heat to high until alcohol evaporates.

Whipped feta is pretty much amazing. It is just feta cheese and cream cheese. After you whip it you add it to bread (or toast) and add any veggies (or fruit) that you want. It’s that simple.

Ingredients:

10 oz. feta cheese (plain, not flavored)

8 oz. cream cheese (soft, not the log kind)

Directions:

1. Dump the feta cheese and cream cheese into a food processor and blend until creamy. This will take, I don’t know maybe close to 10 minutes – you’ll want all of the lumps to be gone and the whipped feta to be absolutely creamy.

It’s up to you what to do with the whipped feta. I sliced some whole wheat bread, spread the whipped feta on top, placed some sliced tomatoes & bell peppers on top, put a fresh basil leaf on top and ground some fresh black pepper over the veggies. You could add some honey while blending the feta and cream cheese and use fruit instead of veggies – the options are endless!

Someday I am going to make raviolis from scratch, but until then I’ll buy them pre-made. This is a great recipe because it takes pre-made fresh raviolis, doesn’t dump a bunch of sauce on them and instead uses oh so fresh summer veggies. What more could you ask for. Really.

prep time: approximately 7 minutes

cooking time: approximately 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bag pre-made fresh cheese raviolis (the size depends on how many people are eating)

1. Place all vegetables onto an oiled baking sheet in a pre-heated 425 degree oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, boil water for the raviolis and cook.

3. After the raviolis are cooked and the veggies are done combine in a pot with the fresh basil leaves and gently stir together. Add more olive oil if the ravioli are sticking to one another. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I cannot believe how amazing this salad / toast was. In fact, I want one right now. I’m pretty much drooling. This recipe will be a go-to summer salad recipe. See, there are so many amazing ways to eat your veggies!

2. Meanwhile, slice the cherry tomatoes, wash the mint leaves, shell the pistachios and grate the cheese. Boil the shelled shrimp – once the water has come to a boil drop the shrimp in the water and cook for approximately 5-7 minutes (until pink).

3. Once the noodles are done, drain and stir in the pesto sauce. Stir in the tomatoes and cooked shrimp.

4. Dish out the noodles with tomatoes and shrimp and sprinkle the mint leaves, pistachios and cheese on top. Enjoy with a nice side salad.